Blues suffer yet another case of heartache

Steve Mascord

A 40-METRE field goal from the man who replaced the great Darren Lockyer in Queensland's State of Origin side.

As a memory of the 2012 rugby league season, Cooper Cronk's one-pointer with five minutes to go last night at Suncorp Stadium will take some beating, the fans at the Caxton Street end telling the story of a match-winning play before anyone else knew it had gone over.

It's a passage of play destined to be replayed for years, a grab from an Origin contest that lived up to and exceeded the overblown expectation placed upon it. Before that, there was another moment, one you almost didn't see, when Todd Carney tied up the game with a sideline conversion with nine minutes to go.

After Josh Morris's miraculous try off a Robbie Farah kick was given by the video referees, Channel Nine went to a short ad break. Producers must have prayed that Carney didn't rush the conversion, forcing them to show a replay. Thankfully, he waited long enough to launch the ball from its plastic stand for the viewers to return to Suncorp Stadium - and what a kick it was, sailing between the uprights.

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Until then, the moment that looked like dominating water-cooler conversation this morning was the same as the one we usually talk about after an Origin game - a stink.

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As he probably has 100 times, Queensland winger Brent Tate gave an opponent a shove after being tackled heavily a few minutes into the match. Maybe he thought that his opponent, NSW captain Paul Gallen, had been responsible for collecting him high a few moments earlier. In fact, it had been prop Tim Grant.

He took a step towards Tate, then another, then another, and punched him in the head. As is customary in Origin, this resulted in protagonists coming from everywhere. At one point NSW back-rower Greg Bird was on the ground, face up, with two Queenslanders on top of him.

Tate had the chance to throw a particularly ugly punch but settled for leaning on the Gold Coast international's face with one arm. ''The penalty's against you for the punch,'' referee Ben Cummins told Gallen.

It was the first of several sorties, Tate versus Bird emerging as rugby league's latest feud. When Brett Morris plunged over for the first try of the match, there was further pushing and shoving. Even the retiring Petero Civoniceva got into the act, rushing in when Tony Williams took Cronk high in the 62nd minute.

''You know better than that!'' admonished referee Tony Archer.

The heavy contact was not restricted to fisticuffs, however, with events in the first half indicating that the NRL's crackdown on concussion clearly doesn't apply to State of Origin. Players concussed in club games are supposed to be assessed by medicos and pass a test before returning to battle. But in order for that to happen, they have to leave the field.

When Farah collided first with Civoniceva and then with Nate Myles, he was struck with such force that Blues trainer Ronnie Palmer signalled immediately to the referees for play to be stopped. But NSW had no cover on the bench for an injured hooker so Farah stayed on the field.

Likewise, Blues replacement forward Ben Creagh was unconscious before he hit the ground in the 27th minute. He also received a head cut that Nine's Andrew Johns estimated at 20 centimetres.

But Creagh was fitted with head gear, returned to the bench, and waited his turn to go back on.